expensive though... I'm ringing to talk about the upcoming UK tour with Deep
Purple in November. Are you really looking forward to getting back out on the
road?
happen and we got hammered. It was worst in the London press.We had one in, I think it was the NME – a headline that read “Guilty of sexism!” It was written like a court case. It was some woman who was into punk bands and she absolutely crucified us. She had a go about us strutting and posing and we WERE pretty boys!
shit had hit the fan. You know what? My mum - she’s 73 and already had a heart attack – she was walking along the street and somebody came up to her and said “sorry to hear about your Neil”. If I ever get hold of the person who did it – well, all I can say is there are some sicko’s out there. He was hunted down and banned from this, that and the other websites, but never mind that, did you see the backlash?
But that’s what most of us girls liked!
NB: That’s what we thought! But we had some Well yes, your Facebook fan page has over real stinkers. Mick Wall always gave us good reviews. 400,000 members! There’s also over 250 Facebook Who was it that wrote that one? groups dedicated to you, saying you’re not dead, people prefer you to Mark Speight, it’s amazing!
Someone called DesMoines?
NB: Yeah, it was a girl. Strange that, isn’t it? There were so many girls in the London scene who were into punk then, because it was the next big thing! We actually got a review once which was when we were supporting UFO, and they didn’t even WATCH UFO, they said “If UFO – whoever they are – are anything like this, then we’re leaving!” The headline was “Long fringed boys play Les Paul’s – Volume 58” It was hideous! You’re going to LOVE Hard Rock Hell – everyone looks like that! When you were describing it then, all I could visualise was last year when we were watching bands like Tygertailz with the big hair, tight trousers, makeup and dancers! It was fantastic!
NB: Yes, we’re really looking forward to that. The thing is, our business is now like a cottage industry. It’s run by and for people who are as enthusiastic as us. So anyone who comes through the door, we love them! We’ve been going out and meeting lots of people and it’s been lovely. It’s almost as if they’re thanking us for reforming, for adding something to what we love! The reviews we’ve been getting this time around have been fantastic. I think the worst review we had was 7 out of 10 for something, which isn’t bad, is it? That’s a hell of a lot better than the one I just read you!
NB: It’s like being born again into Utopia.
My last question is one I simply HAVE to ask. It’s something that everyone I work with has discussed at length over the years and something we all wanted to know. How did you feel when that rumour was put out that you were dead? How did that affect your life?
NB: I was up in the mountains in Wales for ten days and wasn’t contactable. We found a cottage many years ago and my whole family would go and stay there with crates and crates of the good stuff. We’d just barbie, bonfire, up in the mountains and we were out of touch. No mobile reception, no phones, nothing. This particular time when I came back, the
NB: Within a few days there were nearly 70,000 messages of condolence! What I want to know is, where are the rest of them – we went out to 6 million every week! (laughs) NR: When I joined the band, people said to me “Neil Buchanan – is he not dead?!” NB: Chris Moyles phoned me up one morning and got me out of bed. He said “Hey, we’re live on the radio – are you dead?” and I said “What? No!” and he went “there you go listeners, Neil Buchanan is NOT dead! This is Radio 1”. I don’t understand why someone would start something like that.
NR: It wasn’t at the same time Mark Speight died, was it? No, it was ages before that.
NB: The sad thing was, Mark died, then a few days later, Tony Hart died. NR: And you’ve got a hit out on Rolf Harris now, haven’t you? (laughs) NB: Personally, things like that don’t bother me, but when it affects my family, that’s something else. Bu you know what? I’m here and we’re rocking! What about the presenting?
NB: No, I’ve retired now. Did 500 Art Attack’s, I’ve drawn enough dinosaurs, sharks, ballerinas, footballers, dogs, cats, I’ve got nothing more. So you wouldn’t be up for drawing something now then? I just so happen to have a bag of highlighter pens and some A3 paper with me!
An interview with DON AIREY as the legends prepare to hit the road again Deep Purple continue to be a popular force in the rock world, surviving changes in trends and line ups, while still producing high quality material, and boasting some of the world’s most talented musicians within their ranks. Some thought the writing may be on the wall with departure of founding member Jon Lord, but Purple decided to carry on and they made a stellar choice of replacement. Few people have a C.V. like keyboard player Don Airey, who has played with a veritable who’s who in the rock world, and he attained the vacant position helping the band to continue to forge a path forward. With two studio albums under their belts with Airey as a fully fledged member of the band, and talk of another in the offing, James Gaden spoke to Don about that and the upcoming selection of Deep Purple UK dates in November. Hi, is that Don? It’s James from Fireworks magazine.
Hi James, how are you?
I’m very Copenhagen?
well, thanks. Are
you
enjoying
Yes, very much. It’s a wonderful place to be. It’s expensive though... I’m ringing to talk about the upcoming UK tour with Deep Purple in November. Are you really looking forward to getting back out on the road?
Oh yes. I’m surprised we’re doing so few dates in the UK, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. Do you have to spend a lot of time rehearsing for new tours, or have you gotten to the point where you all know each other so well that it doesn’t take long to get back into the groove?
Well, to quote Graham Bonnet, he said ‘grown men rehearsing?!’ (Laughs) (Laughs) That’s Graham’s style though really...
NB: Hey, I spend an hour at the end of every gig drawing! I was really worried when I came back into the band, how the audience would react to someone off the telly being up there on stage. But the fan base for Art Attack has been so loyal.
Yeah. Well we do, if we put a new number in the set or something. Y’know, run through it at soundcheck. It’s kind of a band ethic, that everyone’s supposed to know what they’re doing. Everything’s at the drop of a hat sometimes.
When I said I was interviewing you, the number of people who came to me and said things like “I remember he did this amazing thing with black bin bags and it was a rhino” and all sorts of stuff. You really made an impact on peoples lives.
I think Deep Purple have always had that spontaneous quality though...
NB: It was good quality and they could see I wasn’t messing about. I always wanted to give good value for money. If ever a kid comes up to me in the street, I’ll draw something for them there and then. But since I’ve been back in the band, it’s been fantastic. We had one group of lads turn up to a show and they had all made themselves Art Attack sweatshirts! We got them up on stage singing the chorus to one of the songs. The reaction’s been fab. Nobody’s gone “tosser!” The thing is, if you’ve got over 400,000 fans on your facebook site, then where are these people when you’re promoting a record?
NB: Exactly! Well, I would dearly love to convert Art Attack followers to Marseille fans.
If only ten percent of them bought the album, you’d be number one! And with that, the manager told us it was time to wrap it up. Luckily though, there was still time for Neil to do me not one, but FOUR Art Attacks! It was an honour to meet someone who is more enthusiastic now than he was twenty five years ago. He did indeed spend an hour after the show chatting, drawing, having his picture taken with every member of the audience and being generally very approachable. I hope that their album will bring Marseille success again – they deserve it.
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Yeah. I remember when there was the official release of the album ‘Bananas’, we had a concert in Berlin. So, y’know, we had to run all the numbers through, and it took about three hours! At the end of it, Paicey could barely stand up! He said ‘We’ve just rehearsed more today than we have in the past thirty years!’. (Laughs) That must’ve been something to see! Although you’ve been there a while now, you are still seen as the new member. Did you have to revisit any of the albums they’d made to become familiar with the back catalogue, or where you already familiar with most of it?
Not really, I pretty much knew most of it.
Yeah, I think the list of people you’ve played with is just immense, you’ve played with anybody who is anybody. I was thinking this current stint in Purple must be one of the longest times you’ve spent in one particular project isn’t it?
Yeah, it’s twice as long as I usually stay with anybody. Y’know, usually it’s about three years before I get itchy feet and want to move on. However, this has gone so well for all concerned, and it’s such a nice thing to be part of. Musically, personally, financially, so I’ve just stayed the course. I think from my point of view, as a Deep Purple fan, who’s watched the band over the years, when it came time for Jon Lord to step down, I think a lot of fans thought that there wasn’t going to be anybody capable of replacing him. On my shortlist
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though, you were number one, because of your pedigree. You were one of the few people who could fill Jon’s shoes, and people wouldn’t frown and go ‘Oh, what’s this?’. Obviously with you having the Whitesnake and Rainbow connection there, along with all the other great acts that you’ve worked with like Ozzy, Sabbath and Gary Moore. So, did you feel that was a worry when you joined the band?
Well, there was the question in every press conference ‘how does it feel to fill Jon Lord’s shoes?’, and it used to be asked every time. I was digging through the wardrobe case, and I actually found a pair of Jon Lord’s shoes! So I took them along to the press conference, and it was the only one time when they didn’t ask me that question! (Laughs) I could have put them on and said they were a little bit too big for me or something! But y’know, I’m doing a very difficult job following that guy! There’s more to him than meets the ear, do you know what I mean? Also he played such a large part offstage as well. That was a hard thing to get to grips with. He’s such a witty guy... Well this is it. I recently reviewed a Deep Purple DVD collection called ‘History, Hits & Highlights’, and it spans from ‘68 to ‘76, and when you see when Deep Purple first started out, long before Ian Gillan and Roger Glover were there, Jon used to do all the interviews and all of the promo stuff, and I don’t think a lot of people realised that. So, for you to come in and have your own signature bits now, like the Star Wars theme and your solo bits, I think that works really well. I can’t imagine it was any better for Steve Morse when he joined either?
Oh yes, I mean the essence of it is just to be yourself. That’s what I try to do, but at the same time it was important to try and recreate the sound Jon used to get in the old days, which was using a guitar amp as well. I had Jon’s C3 as well of course, I bought it from him, because he said he didn’t want it anymore. So I had it completely rebuilt, and it just sounds immense!
of lead from the back, and edge everybody forward. I think that’s what Jon used to do as well. The main contribution you make really is toward the structure of the song, finding out how you get from A to B. Y’know, there’s a bridge here, an intro there, a change key here etc. That kind of thing, just turning ideas into songs, and I’m pretty good at that, as even someone like Gary Moore would admit! (Laughs). With your contribution to the writing in mind, do you get a say in the setlist?
Well, everybody does, it’s pretty democratic. There’s a bit of a ritual goes on. Paicey likes to have the last say, and why not? He’s the longest serving member of the band, and he has a great instinct for what works and what doesn’t. I think when I first joined the band there was an aire of studied indifference about everything. I think that they were in such shock with the Ritchie problems, and with Jon it hadn’t been a barrel of laughs for a while either I don’t think. So now it’s Yeah, that’s it. I remember ages really a positive thing, and I really think the ago I talked to Roger Glover, and he music is great. Everyone is playing so well, said the same thing. You’re always in which is the main thing. that position that if you play all the old Absolutely. I think everytime a new member joins Deep Purple, it sort of invigorates everything. I’ve noticed that throughout the years, and I interviewed Ian Gillan not long ago, and he was saying that since you’ve joined, with ‘Banana’s’ and ‘Rapture Of The Deep’ being really well received, and selling better than anybody expected, that everyone was really happy. It’s like a continuous evolution isn’t it?
Yeah, I love being on tour. I think any kind of musician worth his salt knows that’s where you belong. That’s where you have to face reality. So it’s just making sure everything is right for the gig, keyboard wise, and I try and throw in different things all the time, and they respond. They’re such great players, and they can improvise, and get away with things that maybe lesser musicians wouldn’t... So with that in mind, are you guys working on a new album at the moment, or is that something to come after the tour?
stuff, some of the newer fans will be disappointed that the recent material wasn’t played, and if you leave some of the old stuff out, there will be people saying ‘I can’t believe they didn’t play this!’ - so, you can’t possibly please everyone, I think that you did the right thing.
It’s just trying to find a balance. If you’re in the open air, then it’s more older material, but if it’s indoors the new stuff gets more of an airing.
One thing I did want to focus on, just before I go, is you released a solo album called ‘A Light In The Sky’ not so long back, and on the vocals was a guy called Carl Sentence. I’d actually seen him earlier. My friend did a tour called ‘Whole Lotta Metal’, and that’s when I first saw Carl, and I thought he was amazing! So I was thrilled to bits when he actually got a break to sing with somebody like yourself. How did you come across Carl?
Well I knew him from years ago. He was in a band called Persian Risk, and I used to It’s in the offing. We’ve got a lot of pop down the Marquee to see them. So I commitments until the end of this year, knew he was a real talent. I saw him doing Oh absolutely! It’s pretty hard to take I mean we’re working until the 18th ‘Whole Lotta Metal’ at the Cambridge over from Jon, and when he left I think the December, and I think then, in the new Corn Exchange, and we hooked up then. I band was pretty shattered. Fortunately year, we’ll have to come up with some had a few large shows, and we had a bit of things have taken a turn for the better, the new stuff. I think we’re about ready for it, a mix up, and he couldn’t do one of them. band’s really consolidated and playing as so I’m really looking forward to that! So I said I’d make it up to him, and said I well as it ever did. Especially recently, it’s We’ve had such a great run with had an album coming up, and asked if he really gotten back to it’s heavy, ancestral ‘Rapture Of The Deep’, it’s been so well could write some lyrics. status. We’re going out there and really received. When you’re a Classic Rock We did some live shows too. I go playing like we mean it! Paicey in particular, band, you feel very cautious about playing out sometimes as ‘Don Airey & Friends’, just seems to get better every night! any of the new stuff, particularly in a hook up with some local musicians, one festival situation. The other night, we had rehearsal, and on we go! He’s just great Yeah, he’s phenomenal! I think to follow Foreigner, which is not an easy though! another thing that you bring to the thing to do! Y’know, hit after hit, and Mick band, that a lot of people don’t give Jones is just an amazing player! They’ve got Yeah, I mean you can give him you credit for, is your ability as a this wonderful singer called Kelly Hansen, Rainbow, Whitesnake or Ozzy stuff, writer. When you look at some of so it was very hard to follow that! So we and he can handle it all! the great stuff you’ve contributed on had a little talk in the dressing room about Oh yeah, and he’s quite a guitar player with Rainbow and Ozzy, I think that whether we should just play the old stuff, as well! I’ve got another solo project on element that you’ve brought to the but we decided to just go for broke, and the boil at the moment, so he’s getting band has helped as well. I mean right we did. We played ‘Wrong Man’, ‘Things involved with that too. He’s marvellous, from joining the band, from ‘Banana’s’ I’ve Never Said’, ‘Rapture Of The Deep’ we have a good laugh, he’s such a good you’ve been involved with the writing and went down an absolute storm! I think lad. as well. kids want to hear the new material as well Yes, well as a keyboard player you kind as the oldies. I met him backstage at the ‘Whole Do you think that Purple is the closest you have found to a musical home then?
FIREWORKS
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Lotta Metal’ show, when that was touring near where I live, and my friend is the keyboard player, and it’s his show, and he told me that you were at the Cambridge gig, and he was terrified that you were there with him playing keyboards! He said it was like having royalty watching!
(Laughs) It’s funny, I was once doing a gig with Bernie Marsden, and we had an Ozzy cover band supporting us. They were pretty good, I mean it’s hard to do all that stuff. I was standing in the wings, and the keyboard player was on my side of the stage, and there was a bit of a gap. He said ‘I’m not playing ‘Mr. Crowley’ with him standing there!’ (Laughs). Just to finish off, I read that you were writing a book about your experiences in music?
Yes, I’ve started one. I’ve been sorting through all my archive stuff, and I’ve got a tremendous collection of pictures, tour programmes, everything. I always seem to be halfway through it though, with all the other things I have going on. But I think it’ll be good. Fantastic, I’ll look forward to that! Well, thanks for talking to me, Don, and all the best for the tour!
Thanks James, I’ve enjoyed talking to you.
Catch Purple at one of their five UK shows below. Tickets are on sale now: buy online at www.kililive.com, www.seetickets.com or via www. ticketmaster.co.uk; the Credit Card Hotline is on 0844 844 0444.
DEEP PURPLE NOVEMBER 2009 Tuesday 10th Manchester Apollo Wednesday 11th Glasgow Clyde Auditorium Friday 13th Birmingham LG Academy Saturday 14th London Hammersmith Apollo Sunday 15th London Hammersmith Apollo
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